thedailywhat:

Infographic of the Day: Of course the MPAA doesn’t want people to see Bully. If people stopped turning a blind eye to bullying it would no longer exist.

[thanks jill!]


jrhmy:

Joseph Kony is the world’s worst war criminal. In 1987 he took over leadership of an existing rebel group and renamed it the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The LRA has earned a reputation for its cruel and brutal tactics. When Joseph Kony found himself running out of fighters, he started abducting children to be soldiers in his army or “wives” for his officers. The LRA is encouraged to rape, mutilate, and kill civilians–often with blunt weapons.

The LRA is no longer active in northern Uganda (where it originated) but it continues its campaign of violence  in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. In its 26-year history, the LRA has abducted more than 30,000 children and displaced at least 2.1 million people.

Must watch now.


missing-e:

~ Your Freedom To Use Your Browser Is Under Attack ~

Tumblr’s Terms of Service hasn’t changed yet. So please read and help out!

The Tumblr staff recently requested feedback on updates they will be making to their policies. They specifically mention one of their goals is to prevent the promotion of self-harm. However, their updated Terms of Service includes something a lot less laudable.

Unable to find the required avenues to stop developers from creating and distributing browser extensions that enhance the way you use Tumblr and not getting enough of a response to their scary warning campaign, they now seem to be preparing the groundwork for coming after users of these extensions.

~ Who, you? Yes, apparently. ~

Tumblr had been previously unable to prevent all development of these extensions, scripts and add-ons because they function within your web browser, allowing you to direct these extensions to use your browser to automatically perform tasks for you on Tumblr (like quickly reblogging from the dashboard, uploading images to posts, adding control buttons to your sidebar or hiding content you don’t want to see). The extensions, themselves, do not interact directly with Tumblr, only help your web browser to do it for you!

With the upcoming changes to the Terms of Service, Tumblr will soon be able to punish someone: you.

~ How is it wrong to use something to help me enjoy Tumblr more? ~

The important part of the new Terms of Service is under the section titled Limitations on Automated Use:

You may not do any of the following while accessing or using the Services: … (c) access or search or attempt to access or search the Services by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available, published interfaces that are provided by Tumblr… (d) scrape the Services, and particularly scape (sic) Content (as defined below) from the Services, without Tumblr’s express prior written consent

These limitations will make using almost any browser extension, add-on or script for Tumblr (and even some not specifically intended for Tumblr) against the rules!

Do you use Missing e, XKit, Tumblr Savior or any Greasemonkey script for Tumblr? Well, pretty soon, that will mean you will be in violation of Tumblr’s Terms of Service. That would be grounds for terminating your account!

~ What’s the Big Deal? ~

Extensions, add-ons and scripts like Missing e, XKit and Tumblr Savior help you get better use of Tumblr. They might mean that you decide against leaving Tumblr, or that you come back to it. They make it easier to spend more time on Tumblr than you might have normally and become a more involved member of this community. These are the kind of things a company like Tumblr should want, but is instead fighting against.

This most recent step effectively means that Tumblr apparently wants to reach into your web browser and tell you exactly how you are to use it to interact with their website. Their way, and NO OTHER WAY.

~ So, What Can We Do? ~

Tumblr’s new Terms of Service policy has not yet been put into effect. They are still looking for feedback. My suggestions is that we give them feedback.

Contact Tumblr (policy@tumblr.com) and let them know that this decision will alienate the userbase they work so hard to grow. Let them know that a browser extension (be it any of them) brought you back to Tumblr, or convinced you to stay, or kept you on this site longer. Tell them that your Tumblr is better off with a Savior, a Kit of the ‘X’ variety or that Missing e!

ABOVE ALL, BE POLITE. The best way to present your case is with clearheaded statements that show Tumblr that these tools make you want to use their product more!


[Trigger Warning: Abuse] A cautionary tale for Chris Brown fans (and Michael Fassbender fans, and Sean Penn fans, and Eminem fans...)

drdonnaatx:

When I was 19, I married my high school sweetheart. He had never hit me in anyway. Never had yelled at me. He was in the Navy and we moved nearly 1000 miles away from home. We had been married one week when he first slapped me. I forgave him. We had been married about a year when he first punched me in the stomach. I forgave him. After about a year and a half it became common for him to slap, punch or kick me.

I lived for the times he was out to sea. I made excuses. I never blamed him, I always blamed me.

After three years of marriage we moved back to our home state. After we had been to visit family, he punched me the entire trip home and had left bruises on my face and arms. All because I smiled and hugged one my best friends: a gay man.

I knew he would kill me.

I went to work the next day and was paid while I found a shelter and went to a doctor. I went home and packed. He came home early and proceeded to beat me with his fists, a belt and kicked me repeatedly. He also threw me down stairs.

The only reason I’m alive is that I played dead and he went to look for something to put “that dead cunt in.”  I was able to open the door and get out of that apartment and stop a car and get help.

I found out later that the doctors at the hospital didn’t think I would make it through the night. I had 4 broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured skull, broken leg, fractured leg, a broken nose, a broken ankle and various other injuries. They told my dad that if I hasn’t told the person that took me to the hospital what had happened they would have thought I had been in a car accident. They told dad it would be a miracle if I lived. My dad was planning my funeral in his head. When I woke up I talked to the police, got a restraining order and filed for divorce. He went to jail for less than a year.

He remarried someone who knew me. Someone who had seen the pictures, someone who wouldn’t listen to me. She said he was “too hot to do that” she also said “he can hit me anytime.” He does, I’ve seen her bruises. She is living in hell now because she didn’t listen or pay attention to the police report.

Those girls out there saying that Chris Brown can hit them. He will, girls, and next time he’ll be sure to get someone that is not famous and won’t have an army behind her. He might even kill you but don’t worry sure he will look “hot” doing it. Grow up and stop idolizing an abuser.

He doesn’t deserve a Grammy, a number 1 album. He deserves to be treated the same way he treated Rhianna.

If you want to see what someone like him can do, volunteer at a shelter and you will see.


Transgender People are Completely Banned From Boarding Airplanes in Canada

stfuhypocrisy:

The shit hit the fan in the trans blogosphere last night, when it came to light that there is a disturbing new section in the Identity Screening Regulations used in airports throughout Canada. Simply put, Transgender People are Completely Banned From Boarding Airplanes in Canada.

The offending section of the regulations reads:

5.2 (1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if …
(c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents;

Although this obviously discriminatory smear of regulation did not come to significant public attention until very recently, it apparently came into effect on July 27th, 2011.

It is important to note that these regulations are not actually a piece of legislation, which would have had to pass through readings and votes in the House and Senate (which is probably why it went unnoticed until now). Rather, the Identity Screening Regulations are a set of rules implemented unilaterally by the Ministry of Transportation, as part of Canada’s so-called Passenger Protect, which is essentially the Canadian Federal Government’s equivalent to the U.S.’s “no-fly” list.

Minister of Transportation Denis Lebel is, of course, a federal Conservative MP appointed to the cabinet position by Stephen Harper.

So what does this mean? Well, in order to change the ‘sex’ designation on a Canadian Passport, the federal government requires proof that surgery has taken place, or will take place within one year. So for non-operative transgender persons, for gender nonconforming (genderqueer) persons, and for the vast majority of pre-operative transsexual persons, it is literally impossible to obtain proper travel documentation marked with the sex designation which “matches” the gender identity in which they live.

In the eyes of the honourable Minister of Transportation, that makes trans people unfit to fly in Canada.

It is interesting to note that this regulatory adjustment occurred immediately following the federal election in 2011. In the previous parliament, Bill C-389, a bill to amend the Human Rights Code to explicitly enshrine protections against discrimination for transgender people, had successfully passed in the House of Commons, only to die on the Senate floor when Harper declared a Federal Election (thereby dissolving parliament).

Is the timing of this disturbing and blatantly discriminatory regulatory adjustment merely a coincidence? That is up to you to decide. However, the negative impact on trans people is crystal clear, and we need to take action now.


CANADA IS PASSING A SOPA COPY IN 14 DAYS. EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT CANADIAN, REBLOG THIS SO OTHERS CAN SEE IT. BECAUSE WE HAVE A MAJORITY GOVERNMENT HERE, THIS MEANS THAT ANYTHING HARPER AND THE CONSERVATIVES DECIDE THEY WANT TO PASS, CAN BE PASSED.

itsrainingcatsandpumps:

the letter is already written, so all you have to do is click send.


youranonnews:

STOP CENSORSHIP BY GETTING INVOLVED

Petitions - 

  • U.S. anti-ACTA White House Petition: sign it
  • Canada - Take 1 minute to send a letter contesting Bill C-11: here 
  • Ireland - anti-SOPA Ireland Petition: sign it
  • Global anti-ACTA Petition: sign it

Attend a local Protest - 

Contact Elected Representatives (special focus on European Parliament) - 

Contacting your Elected Representatives is the most useful thing you can do right now, and until the final vote in the European Parliament.

CALL Members of European Parliament Committees:

Raise Awareness - 

Use whatever resources you have to spread the word about ACTA and similar bills:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • mailing lists
  • email
  • forums
  • personal blog

What is ACTA? See our Nutshell Guide here

For additional information on how to Act Against ACTA, see this helpful compilation


ac-cio-sophie:

A short film I co-directed about teenager Jamie is bullied by his classmates for his sexual orientation. This is a short film on the impact and effect of homophobic bullying. 


jedifreac:

After three years of working on Racebending.com I am not sure if I should be excited by how fiercely and rapidly the fandom can and will break down why the film was problematic, or sad that years and years later, the same excuses and apologetics get trotted out over and over.

It’s hard, sometimes, to stand in a sea of A:TLA fandom and not know if I am surrounded by supporters of our efforts to fight discrimination in entertainment media, or people who view this subversion as traitorous to our fandom identity. Apparently, the good fan is docile, and “calms down” and doesn’t clog the Korra tag with ‘frivolous’ or ‘irrelevant’ commentary. Even if the commentary is about a serious thing that happened to a franchise we all love. Even if media critique is an essential part of fandom.

The reality is that the “The Last Airbender” film replicated the same oppressions and casting barriers faced by Bruce Lee. It replicated the same systemic discriminations—systemic racism, yes, racism—that Mako Iwamatsu, the late voice actor of Uncle Iroh, spent his entire career fighting. I cannot presume to speak for the dead, but I am reasonably certain both of them would have supported the fans against the casting, were they still alive. Or perhaps they would have been saddened to see these casting patterns still happening, and the people still denying, in 2010?

The Mako that Korra’s Mako is named after spoke out directly against these practices. Would you dare tell him that he was “too sensitive”? Would you tell Bruce Lee he was “making a big deal out of nothing?” Yet, merely having to scroll past those speaking out against racism on the Korra tag is a prohibitive inconvenience to those who view themselves as the “true” fans.